The Role of Drugs in AIDS

1/10/93 Ms. No. T1867

Direct epidemiological correlations between drug use and AIDS.
A third of all AIDS patients are consumers of intravenous drugs.
Currently 32% of the American (4, 7) and 30% of the European (41) AIDS
patients use intravenous drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and others. In
America this group includes about 75% of all heterosexuals, 71% of all
females, and over 10% of the male homosexuals and hemophiliacs with
AIDS (4, 7). In addition, about 60-70% of American children with AIDS were
born to mothers who are confirmed intravenous drug users or who had "sex
with intravenous drug users" and therefore are likely users themselves (4, 7).
An estimated 60% of American AIDS patients use oral drugs. About
60% of the American AIDS patients, of which most are 20-45 year-old male
homosexuals (4), use oral psychoactive and aphrodisiac drugs. These include
nitrite- and ethylchloride inhalants, cocaine, amphetamines, methaqualone,
lysergic acid, phenylcyclidine, and others (11, 13-15, 17, 42-46).
The largest multicenter study of self-identified American homosexual
men reports in 1990 that 83% of 3916 had used one, and about 60% two or
more drugs with sex during the previous 6 months (47). In a group of 359
homosexual men from San Francisco studied in 1987 84% had used cocaine,
82% alkylnitrites, 64% amphetamines, 51% quaaludes, 41% barbiturates, 20%
injected drugs, and 13% shared needles, at the same time 95% had practised
anal intercourse with steady or nonsteady partners, 57% had averaged greater
than 4 partners per month, 57% had experienced bleeding with intercourse,
44% had practised fisting and 18% had shared douching equipment (43).
About 74% had past or current infection by gonorrhea, 73% by hepatitis B
virus, 67% by HIV, 30% by amoebae and 20% by syphilis (43). This group had
been randomly selected from a list of homosexuals who had volunteered to
be investigated for hepatitis B virus infection and to donate antisera to